[kall]

Have any of you been following this?

Public Funds to the tune of $239 million last year were provided to this self-styled 'Maori University'.

Seems that there has been some dodgy financial practice, conflicts of interest and several people are wanting answers.

Apparently staff members were enrolled in courses to push up the amount of funds the 'University' received, and the head of the institution may have benefited financially by selling a course to the institution.

AND they have that ad campaign running featuring Scribe. He probably didn't come cheap. I'm sure that 15 and 30-second ads in prime time don't.

[bella]

Greedy people ruin it for everyone else.

Why did they have to lie and cheat their way into more funds? Couldnt they have made an impression as a good learning place and gotten support from people with money? The way other universities do?

[Sparklechick]

Further to this ... was reading yesterday that this Maori university gets more funding than any pakeha university around - well actually there is no pakeha only university.

Also, I read that they are giving laptops and cellphones to students. Another Maori university - Te Wananga o te Raukura (or something similar) is paying for the students phone bills so they can "access the internet" ... WHAAAAAAAAAAT?

They try to justify this expense by saying that the students fees are paying for all this stuff - no other university offers these goodies so I'm assuming that they're either charging extremely high fees OR they're using OUR money as a buffer.

Oh, and of course there are a number of contractors etc waiting to be paid by the Wananga for services they've performed for them. I think one was the guys who installed/provided the computers. Funnily enough they haven't been paid yet and yet the University is paying for advertisements in Prime time and giving away laptops to students!

As if this wasn't enough ... the new advertising campaign shows an older student sitting in a bus using his new laptop saying that he's joined the university because he wants to learn more about his family Genealogy so he's joined the university to learn computer skills - not to mention the fact that he gets a free laptop AND phone connection !!!!

Are the Maori EVER going to have to work for themselves? They get given SO much from our government already in Treaty settlements ... one wonders what they're doing with that money for them to have to hold their hands out and request funding for such things as their own universities.

And that's my rant over for the morning.

[busyness53]

Originally Posted by kall

Have any of you been following this?

Public Funds to the tune of $239 million last year were provided to this self-styled 'Maori University'.

Seems that there has been some dodgy financial practice, conflicts of interest and several people are wanting answers.

Apparently staff members were enrolled in courses to push up the amount of funds the 'University' received, and the head of the institution may have benefited financially by selling a course to the institution.

AND they have that ad campaign running featuring Scribe. He probably didn't come cheap. I'm sure that 15 and 30-second ads in prime time don't.

Hi Kall
Your point is??????

[kall]

About Scribe?

The Wananaga was about to be raked over the coals for financial impropriety and they went out and made a series of TV ads...featuring Scribe.

That can't have been cheap.

[busyness53]

To You all i am a student of Te Wananga-O-Raukawa 2nd Year, as you see by my age i am one of those old ones. The laptops you think we got for free nah, we paid for them on time payments just like we pay for the phone the internet is for research purposes but as it is home base the wananga cannot control it so we are given so much hours a month. As in all races there are the ignorant and the radicals but there are some of us that are quite honest, the difference between a wananga and university is the wananga teaching is about being maori, we are taught about us, i also no there are 35% non maori attending this wananga. However i do agree that some maori institutions do rip people of not only you but their own as well. My daughter is doing a computor course/business management with PEI home education based in New Plymouth.

[kall]

It's not an 'us and you' issue, it's a 'greedy people and the rest of us' issue...it just happens that, in this case, the greedy people are the Wananga and happen to be maori.

We understand that you had to pay for your laptop through your fees, but in that case...I cannot understand how it works. The fees must be WAAAY higher than the fees I paid at Auckland Uni when I went.

The average laptop costs, what...$2000? The cost of a Telecom landline with internet access can't be less than $30 a month. Even taking only 10 months of the year into consideration, thats an additional $300.

[busyness53]

this is busyness's daughter.........i have also atteneded Te Wananga o Raukawa, and i have a student loan to show i was to be completing my degree in matauranga maori, for personal reasons i had to take the yr off, the wananga not only offers as *maori* a choice to upgrade ourselves the same as any other school or uni, the wananga also offers us a chance to embrace our culture. my personal computer was paid for by my own student loan as well as 20 hours per week on the internet for research purposes, and any other supplies i have needed have been personally funded by me, but the point of this is.....like any other institute maori or non maori ppl along the line rip u off, this convo came up i believe because of what is currently happening with te wananga o Aotearoa, which is hitting headlines. At the moment i am undertaking a dip in busi.admin and computing, with my nzqa credits crossed from the wananga to pei, a non maori campus, i dont need to pay for another computer which they also offer.
naku noa
Jacqueline

[kall]

Thank you and your mother very much for your input. It's good to have someone who has actually experienced the topic give their opinions.

[kall]

So...it would seem that the Government has just bailed Te Wananga O Aotearoa out to the tune of TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS. It is being called a 'short term loan'.

From what I have seen on TV, all of the offices are wood panelled, with enormous desks and carvings, and the board room has nice leather seats and, again, is huge.

I guess the accountant was on holiday when all that was purchased?

Interestingly, the focus has tightened on the fact that the student body is 'predominantly Maori' .. something that wasn't overly stressed at first. Why should money go to Te Wananga for that reason?

When I went to Uni, there weren't any Maori Universities, there weren't any Pakeha or Asian universities either. It was a (semi) level playing field. Maoris were given preferential treatment back then too though...more scholarships available, lower marks required to get into Med School...

Why they did/do any of that, I can't really understand. Is being Maori such a handicap that a crutch/handout/help up is needed? I don't think it is, but clearly lots of people do.

Another question: How much did Scribe get paid for that commercial that came out JUST before the whole thing hit the news?

[Sparklechick]

I am getting absolutely sick to death of this government bailing out the maori who fail in business. We give them money, the spend it unwisely then ask for more ... there are quite a few instances where this has happened .... remember Maori TV?

Why should they get preferential treatment all the time?

It just makes me sick. I AM A NEW ZEALANDER TOO!!!!! I don't ask the government for anything which is lucky because I'm not maori so probably wouldn't get anything anyway.

Think of all the things we could have used that money for ... healthcare for instance ...

ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[kall]

And to call it a 'short term loan' ... does anyone REALLY believe that they will turn a $20 million PROFIT in the 'short term'?

If it had been a business, all of the creditors would be at the door, and a governmental 'loan' would be called what it is, a bailout.

[Sparklechick]

You didn't see the government come and bail out Ansett NZ when it went into receivership, with 1500 people losing their jobs and it needed less than $20 million to bail it out.

I'd be interested to know how much they're paying their staff. $20 million is a lot of money to need to keep paychecks going and creditors from the door.

Are they going to take away the PCs from the students that attend? Make them pay the money back sooner? Will they stop paying for students internet and phone connections?

I'll definitely be watching this one closely.

[busyness53]

Originally Posted by kall

It's not an 'us and you' issue, it's a 'greedy people and the rest of us' issue...it just happens that, in this case, the greedy people are the Wananga and happen to be maori.

We understand that you had to pay for your laptop through your fees, but in that case...I cannot understand how it works. The fees must be WAAAY higher than the fees I paid at Auckland Uni when I went.

The average laptop costs, what...$2000? The cost of a Telecom landline with internet access can't be less than $30 a month. Even taking only 10 months of the year into consideration, thats an additional $300.

My first year cost $6995.00, included was laptop, 20hrs a month internet, free phone, 1 weeks training in computers, which basically covers what they want for your papers. I did 5 Iwi and Hapu, 5 Matauranga Maori, 3 Te Reo Maori papers, got my diploma. This yr i have to do the same amount of papers for my degree, with this degree i will be able to teach. The price this year is $3500.00.

[Sparklechick]

You only paid $6995 and got a laptop, internet and free phone?

No wonder the place is going bankrupt.

[busyness53]

hi kall, yeah it is a debateable subject, i do agree with all the comments however
Te Wananga-O-Aotearoa is not giving wananga's a good reputation, yea i saw on tv last night the latest news concerning those guys. Actually kall if ever you are down Otaki way one day call in and see the wananga for yourself, it has a very interesting history, which started with one man Prof, Whatarangi Winiata, he is avery interesting person to talk to.
However some graduates use the knowledge gained in a radical way, this is opening up all maori for negative talk.

[trogg]

Originally Posted by kall

When I went to Uni, there weren't any Maori Universities, there weren't any Pakeha or Asian universities either. It was a (semi) level playing field. Maoris were given preferential treatment back then too though...more scholarships available, lower marks required to get into Med School...

When I went to school we were forced to read Animal Farm by George Orwell and one thing that has stuck with me from that book is the quote "Everybody is equal, but some are more equal than others".
Unfortunately that is the way this country seems to be heading with the swing to political correctness and helping the perceived underclasses.

What is wrong with actually going to school and having your parents and family supporting you / forcing you to attend so that you can make something of your life?

Sure, part of me would like to go back to school / university and learn more but I just can't afford it as I have a mortgage and bills to pay. Also there is no gain to the greater community if I do that as I am already contributing in my own way. By that I mean why should my education to be an astro-physicist (or something equally as useless to the local economy) be subsidized when there is a need for "useful" qualifications like teachers, doctors and even tradespeople like builders and electricians. Surely they are more worthy of an education hand out or loan than someone researching their personal geneology.

Surely this money would be better spend on;
hospital amenities,
police and better training to get ride of the dishonest ones,
a corrections system that gives inmates life skills so they no longer need to commit crime to survive,
fair pay for bus drivers, elderly care-givers, teachers, nurses and the rest of the people that make a difference,
transport infrastructure so that you don't waste $5 of petrol (purchased with hard earned overseas funds) sitting in traffic jams daily,
and so on

The sooner that the government and the rest of this country start making things equal the better as in my opinion bail outs of institutions with a racial slant are just one more step on the road to separatism that will divide this country into an us and them mentality.

*RANT ENDS*

[Sparklechick]

here here Trogg

I agree entirely.